New sheriff brings back fired employees

New Broward Sheriff Scott Israel made fast friends among those who'd been fired or cast aside by former Sheriff Al Lamberti.

They flocked to his campaign, eager for regime change.

In the three months since he took office, the new sheriff has restored some of them to good favor, and rehired the fired. A terminated deputy is now his right-hand man, a deputy who was suspended and moved to night shift is now the agency's No. 3. The daughter of a county commissioner is being considered for a job, five years after former Sheriff Al Lamberti let her go.

Bitterness between the sheriff and his predecessor cannot be understated. And Israel says he's righting some wrongs.

"He hurt this county; he hurt this policing agency," Israel said of Lamberti. "He hurt people present and past. What's so hard to think that I wanted to resurrect careers?"

Lamberti said Israel's personnel moves should be questioned, because in several cases, independent committees, arbitrators or judges thought the punishments or terminations were justified. All of them were fair, he said.

"This is not a fast-food restaurant," the former sheriff said. "This is safety and life and death. You have to earn the public trust. It's not a fast-food restaurant where you can say, 'You know what, I'm going to give you another chance.'"

To the top

Three years ago, Russell DiPerna was freshly unemployed, a fired BSO deputy. Investigators at BSO said he slandered a burglary victim and helped the suspect, a career criminal.

Now he's back at BSO at Israel's right hand, as his executive officer. DiPerna was at Israel's side during his campaign, and helped lead his transition into the office. Like some others, DiPerna's fortune shifted on Nov. 6, 2012, Election Day.

He declined to comment for this story, but his personnel and disciplinary files lay out the allegations from the 2009 case that led to his firing:

A career criminal, Anthony Spinella had just gotten out of jail when he went to his former girlfriend's apartment to get his belongings. He was accused of breaking in, with the help of a locksmith. DiPerna believed the case was a civil matter, a dispute over belongings, and that the girlfriend was lying.

Though it wasn't DiPerna's case to handle, he got involved, helping the suspect's family and offering to testify for them, the investigative files say, and violating a host of law enforcement norms and policies.

Assistant State Attorney Catherine Maus told BSO investigators that DiPerna sided with Spinella, telling her the girlfriend was a stripper. Maus said he went into detail about "what a bad person she was, and he was pretty obnoxious about her as an individual. … It appeared that he was having a personal reaction to something, to the fact that she was a stripper, according to him. … It was really unusual."

The State Attorney's Office reviewed the case for witness tampering but said DiPerna's actions didn't warrant prosecution.

He was fired. He later filed a state ethics complaint against Lamberti for taking his teenage son to a Super Bowl security detail, a case that dogged Lamberti until he was cleared.

Israel said the firing was politically motivated.

"I believe DiPerna made a mistake," Israel said. "I know he would tell anyone that." But, he said, "the punishment was ridiculously unacceptable. Anyone else doing what he did would have received a letter of reprimand or suspension."

Lamberti said the firing was recommended by a 12-member disciplinary committee and upheld by an arbitrator and a judge, who all concluded "that person is not worthy of a position of public trust."

"And now you bring him back? I think you have a hard time justifying that to the public," Lamberti said.

Helped a suspect

The day Israel started work as the sheriff, he promoted Commander Alvin Pollock to colonel of law enforcement, ranking third at BSO, just beneath Undersheriff Steve Kinsey.

Under Lamberti, Pollock, who declined comment for this report, fell from favor.

The agency was embarrassed when Pollock, who worked off-duty for the Miami Dolphins, drove Miami Dolphins defensive end Phillip Merling home to Weston after his jailing on a felony domestic violence charge.

Pollock was suspended 15 days without pay in the May 2010 incident and removed from his job as commander over the courthouse deputies, BSO records show. He was moved to a night shift and was no longer allowed to work off-duty details.

Lamberti said he spared Pollock's job, but that a firing was recommended by members of his command staff.

"I could have terminated him with a phone call. ... And I chose not to," Lamberti said. "And then he turned around and supported Israel."

Pollock argued the punishment was overly harsh. He filed a federal racial discrimination complaint against Lamberti, the South Florida Times reported at the time.